A Diary of the presidency - Secession, cooperation, regionality

The travelling photo exhibition "Masters of European Secession - Barcelona - Brussels - Budapest" arrived in our capital city in April. The National Museum displayed about 50 large photo panels, picturing the buildings of three major Secessionist architects from the current EU trio countries, Spain, Belgium and Hungary. Next to the buildings designed by Antonio Gaudí (photographed by Pere Vivas and Ricard Pla) and Victor Horta (photographed by Bastin & Evrard), photos of Hungarian architect Ödön Lechner’s works (taken by János Gerle) were representing the Secessionist era on the fences of the museum. Lechner had quite a unique approach within the style, as his finest example, the impressive building of the Museum of Applied Arts shows.  The designer of the concept and the main curator of the exhibition was Katalin Keserü, the co-curators were Fina Parés and Françoise Aubry.

On the invitation of the Hungarian Music Council, the International Music Council (IMC) held its meetings in Hungary between 30th March-4th April. The event was an official programme of the Hungarian EU Presidency, organised as part of the Liszt Year and the Budapest Spring Festival, and also connected to the European Festival Association’s (EFA) Budapest conference. Initially, the bicentennary of the birth of Franz Liszt was considered as the main theme of the conference, but in the end the organisers decided upon regional strategies and cooperations. ”The main aim of regional strategies is to preserve cultural heritages and the co-existance of different cultures in Europe, based on traditions and tourism.” – said Bálint Ódor, deputy Secretary of State responsible for EU issues of the Hungarian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, at the EFA conference on 1st April.

Meanwhile abroad, the exhibition entitled Liszt and Hungary in the Bavarian Parliament in Munich presented Hungary’s art and culture and the life of Liszt. In Burgerland, the birthplace of the composer, the Liszt Year naturally received special attention. The artistic directors of the programmes, Johannes and Eduard Kutrowatz, who also run the Liszt Centre adjacent to the house in which Liszt was born, organised the Lisztomania festival in April, with numerous concerts and other events both in- and outdoors.

Still looking around abroad at the various cultural events of the Hungarian EU presidency, we have to mention the Pál Frenák Company’s performance in Brussels. They put on two of their productions,Twinsand MenNonNo, as part of the ”Hungary in Focus” event series.

The rather loud Balkan Traffic! festival took place between 14th and 17th April, stirring the silence of the highest cultural sanctuaries of Brussels, like the Palais De Beaux-Arts (Museum of Fine Arts or BOZAR). The headliners of this international event were Boban Markovic and Goran Bregovič, whose popularity would not have grown so huge without certain movies, particularly those of Emir Kusturica - therefore the festival also dedicated a section to the latest film productions from the South-East European peninsula. The five-year history of the festival demonstrates that the cultural products of the different nations and ethnic groups in the Balkans can help heal the wounds they have inflicted upon each other, and also that cultural cooperations based on tolerance and the respect for ethnic and other kinds of minorities can provide a good opportunity for this region to present itself in the centre of Europe.

Back to Hungary, the European Union Youth Orchestra (EUYO) gave a concert on 3rd April in the Palace of Arts. ”The members of the orchestra belong to the same age group. The rehearsals, journeys and programmes we are participating in have made us a good community. Also, everyone speaks English quite well, so language barriers do not hinder us.” – said Bálint Mohai (bassoon) in our interview with him and and Marietta Szűcs (flute), two of the seven Hungarian members of EUYO.

Out of the numerous contemporary dance productions in the month, one outstanding show was Miet Warlop’s Springville in Trafó. ”Most of the characters in Springville are half objects, half people, and the main point of interest is how these object-people function together.” The Belgian performer-choreographer, who currently lives in Berlin but is constantly touring Europe with her unique performances, talked with us about her exciting object theater piece in an interview.

April saw the completion of the Heritage of our Future project: one of the largest folklore collection programmes, Final Hour had produced 50 CDs of the Új Pátria (New Homeland) series and seven books. The bonus, however, was that 400 libraries and institutions all across Europe received a copy of the package, so the folk music of the Carpathian Basin had finally become accessible for research and study. Talking about traditions, we should also mention the most important holiday of the season, Easter, which is one of the oldest festivities of Christianity, commemorating the crucification of Jesus and celebrating his resurrection on the third day. We presented a handful of the innumerable folk traditions that have become associated with this season over the centuries.

Being part of the World Heritage did not prevent the Millenary Benedictine Archabbey of Pannonhalma to respond with striking contemporary solutions to the spiritual and touristic challenges of the twenty-first century. On the apropos of the temporary exhibition about the developments already executed and other ones starting in April, we introduced the contemporary architecture of Pannonhalma. The photo and video documentation of the parts of the construction already completed, as well as the plans available in sketches and montages are still on display at the Contemporary Architecture in Pannonhalma exhibition in the library of the Archabbey until 11 November.

According to the motto of the European Union, ”in varietate concordia” (i.e. ”unity in diversity”), the acting Hungarian presidency also wanted to contribute with its share to the realization of a colourful and tolerant Europe, whether it be the European Roma-strategy or an exciting photo exhibition. The Co-Existence(’Együtt-lét’) open-air exhibition at Kossuth tér in front of the Parliament building can still be visited until 30th June. The many tourists wandering around among the photos are a visible manifestation of the exhibition’s concept, namely that we, the people in Europe, do not live simply next to one another but in co-existence with each other.

Coming up next, we give a summary of the most exciting cultural events in the fifth month of the Presidency.